As a method for preventing corrosion (hereinafter, referred to as “anti-corrosion”) in connecting portions between electric wire conductors and terminals to which the conductors are connected as mentioned above, a waterproof method and water proof device for end connecting portions of coated electric wires (see Patent Document 1) has been proposed, for example.
More specifically, in the method and the device of Patent Document 1, an end connecting portion where a conductor of a coated electric wire and a terminal metal fitting are connected is set in a cavity of a shaping die, and a side opening of the cavity from which the coated electric wire is drawn outside is blocked with an elastic baffle plate. Then, a molten mold resin is injected into the cavity to coat the end connecting portion with the mold resin.
However, as the above-mentioned mold resin also covers an insulating coating of the coated electric wire, an outer diameter of the mold resin coated on the insulating coating becomes large (see FIG. 3 of Patent Document 1). Accordingly, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a connecting portion of a coated electric wire 52 of a wire harness 51 and a terminal metal fitting 55 is coated with a mold resin 57 using the above-described method and the device, an outer diameter of the mold resin 57 coated on the insulating coating 54, which is to be inserted into a terminal insertion hole 59 of a connector housing 58, becomes larger than an inner diameter of the terminal insertion hole 59.
Therefore, for inserting the terminal metal fitting 55 connected to the coated electric wire 52 of the wire harness 51 into the terminal insertion hole 59 of the connector housing 58, the mold resin 57 coated on the insulating coating 54 of the coated electric wire 52 abuts a peripheral portion of an inlet side of the terminal insertion hole 59, and the terminal metal fitting 55 cannot be inserted into a predetermined position.
Further, there is a problem that the terminal insertion hole 59 of the connector housing 58 has to be processed into a size which allows to insert the terminal metal fitting 55 coated with the mold resin 57, the connector housing 58 itself has to be enlarged, and/or a dedicated connector housing 58 has to be manufactured, thereby increasing the cost.